The present invention relates to improvements in a roll-up shutter.
More particularly, the invention provides an electrically-driven shutter which can be electrically deployed or retracted, and the slats may be electrically tilted for ventilation or vertically closed for maximum security, all by use of a single electric motor.
For brevity, the term “building opening” is used in the present specification to mean both doors and windows.
Roll-up shutters and Venetian blinds are both familiar to most people and need no detailed description. These two items are often found together in openings of residential and public buildings. The purpose of the shutter is to prevent passage of humans, animals and birds. Of course, the shutter is also useful for stopping the entry of solar radiation more than is desired, to provide privacy and to minimize damage during a severe storm. The shutter however when deployed allows little ventilation or light to pass.
The Venetian blind is useful for directing incoming solar rays in any desired direction and for totally shielding the window or door opening therefrom and thus provides the privacy desired by those in the building. The Venetian blind provides ventilation but on the other hand it provides almost no barrier to forcible entry.
Sliding shutters provide tiltable slots, however, such shutters require more space for moving same into “pockets” within the building wall.
In the past almost all shutters have been manually operated. However the large area shutters used over a double door and large windows have been difficult to operate by the elderly and by handicapped persons, which led to the development of electrically driven shutters which were found convenient also by the able bodied.
As roller shutters have been intensively developed in Israel, the following review of Israeli patents provides a fair picture of the state of the art. A hand-powered roll up shutter is seen in Israel Patent no. 17,603 to Rosoff, who claims that his design is openable for ventilation purposes. The shutter has cloth interconnection bands which wear quickly and can be cut by household scissors without difficulty by a person determined to enter through the door or window fitted with such a shutter.
A further shutter having some hand-operated tiltable slats is seen in Israel Patent no. 19,862 to Moliplast ltd et al. The roller blind requires manual intervention for tilting the slats.
Grau discloses a tilting roller blind in Israel Patent no. 22,829, wherein pegs connected to said slats cause tilting thereof. The shutter requires vertical guide means, a first auxiliary path and a second auxiliary path and it is unclear how the user is to control the degree of tilt.
Shem-Ur in Israel Patent no. 37,506 discloses a more complex design. The top and bottom slats have bolts at their extremities to which small levers, pliably connected to a chain can be turned, although these two slats retain their vertical orientation. The shutter includes means preventing a person from lifting the shutter upwards. Mechanical means, as well as a hand-operated crank, provide for tilting the slats.
Israel Patent no. 111,577 to Erber et al. discloses a Venetian blind wherein louver slats and adjustable chain links both overlap each other. From the abstract and FIG. 9 available the mode of operation was unclear.
A shutter slat tilting mechanism is also disclosed by Tristeck Ltd. in Israel Patent no. 123,347 wherein a mechanical control allows selective tilting of the slats.